Newkirk’s work approached the level of several former Capital Region hockey play-by-play announcers who worked their way to the NHL, including Dave Strader, John Kelly, Mike Haynes and John Hennessy. He caught on the Phantoms after the Rats, in a cost-cutting move, put him on layoff at the end of his third Albany season.

The Phantoms position was seasonal for Newkirk, who doubled as the team’s public-relations director, but this move is anything but good PR. It is not known how the team will handle its broadcasts next season.

One Response

Maybe the new Devils ownership should take him back and make him the radio announcer once again and stick it to the Phantoms, who made an idiotic move in letting him go. The Albany Devils do not have a radio announcer yet.